A conversation with Anastasia Race
Tell us a little about your
yourself
I am a proud mother of a
soon to be16 year old daughter who is about to go through the trials and
tribulations of year 11 and 12 over the next two years. I have to say that
there is nothing like the grounding, humility and inspiration a child can give
to a parent.
My many passions are
travel, cycling, kayaking, film and reading anything that inspires and teaches
me something new or helps me see things from a different perspective. My
Russian and Greek Heritage has imparted to me a love of food, family and
culture and a strength and resilience that comes from being a child of migrant
parents forging and new life in a strange new country full of opportunities. My
philosophy on life is that luck happens to those who recognize and act on
opportunities and have a clear focus on the things they want to achieve.
Persisting in this vs changing tack continuously is what creates success in the
end.
What were you doing before
your recent arrival at SAP?
Prior to SAP I was working
for Oracle Corporation in Australia as an Account Director responsible for the
sale of Database, Technology, Business analytics and Exadata solutions for 3.5
years. I have been fortunate to have worked for organisations such as
Microsoft. IBM, Cisco and Optus in a variety of sales and Partner/Channel l
Management roles all across Public Sector, Insurance, Retail and professional services
which has provided me with broad commercial experience and insight into IT and
IT and its many complexities.
What does your role as
Channel Sales Manager for the Cloud team entail?
My role is Channel Sales
Manager (ANZ) looking after Infrastructure Technology and Business Process
Outsourcing as well as Hosting and reporting to Greg Harbour VP cloud. The role
focuses on selling SAP applications through the many partner cloud environments
that are established and being established. To this end I am responsible for
driving incremental revenue in conjunction with our partners across ANZ and
establishing a portfolio of key partners that we will proactively manage in
driving our joint GTM execution plans. Our customers are telling us that they
want to move to consumption based software and infrastructure as a service
model.
Our partners need our
assistance in equipping them with the frameworks and enablement to address this
market. SAP is evolving and maturing in how we do this (with challenges along
the way) but the exciting things is we are creating and innovating new
possibilities and through that reinvigorating our business and relationships
with customers and partners. Our success in meeting 40% growth in channel sales
by 2015 depends on our ability to adapt quickly and address this market
opportunity, and through our partners, grow our addressable market space.
Where do you see Cloud
Computing heading in the future? What role does SAP have to play in this?
Organisations like
Forrester, in their 2012 Sizing the cloud Market Asia Pacific Report are
predicting strong growth in this market and we have a window of opportunity
now. Australia is still the most mature cloud market in the Asia Pacific
Region. Cloud procurement is being centralised and Managed more formally
through IT, spending on dynamic infrastructure services is doubling . Saas is
the largest cloud market segment and we will see ERP, HCM business intelligence
growing the fastest. Business process as a service will evolve allowing shared
resources across multiple customers on a per user, self-service and consumption
based model approach . Dynamic applications services will evolve from
traditional managed services . Customer will be able to control how and where
their data is stored.
In addition market
developments such as the rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN) , The
federal government’s Cloud Computing Strategic Direction and other Government
initiatives will drive increased demand for cloud based services across all
cloud market segments in Australia and NZ
SAP is in an excellent
position to address these market developments through the way in which we
enable our partners to meet this market and also through the development and
delivery of our software and technologies like HANA.
What do you think diversity
is? Why do you think it’s important to see more women involved in SAP?
Diversity is a simple word
that highlights “difference” within a very broad context of race, gender
ethnic, beliefs, Lifestyle, cognitive style, education and so on .It is what
makes us the unique and interesting individuals we are . Diversity forms the
basis of the society we live in and often the organisations we work in.
Supporting and managing diversity in the workplace successfully is what enables
greater business outcomes because of better Communication problem solving, team
synergy , loyalty, and the ability to adapt to change. We all have our
strengths and weaknesses. Nothing we do in this company is the product of one
person and one idea. It is the power of the collective whole that creates that
higher outcome. I have seen firsthand many times how women can contribute to
not just successful business outcomes because of their personal style,
communication skills, capability and experience but also in contributing to a
corporate culture that is fun, interesting and dynamic.
What are you plans for the
next 12 months? Personally and professionally.
I am very focused on
getting some key wins in Q4, building a strong pipeline and portfolio of
excellent partners to help SAP address the growing market . Building the
internal and external relationships and connections to do this is so important
and I am really encouraged with the support and assistance I have had from
everyone so far. We will be challenging the boundaries and trying to overcome
obstacles along the way, but I believe we have absolutely the right attitude
and focus.
Personally I would like to
get fitter and attempt the tougher mudder challenges with my much tougher SAP
colleagues this year.
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